Ronnie Draper

Retired General Secretary Bakers Union,the Food-workers Union. Director of Quorn Grange Hotel. All views are personal.

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

The Royal Navy switched its sailors from cotton to polyester two years before the Falklands, and the sea put the two fabrics to the test on the afternoon of 4 May 1982.

HMS Sheffield was hit by an Exocet 70 miles off the islands. The warhead did not go off. It did not need to: the rocket fuel did, and the ship filled with fire and black smoke in seconds. Twenty men died. Many more came out of her with burns, and the burns had a feature the surgeons at Ajax Bay and the Uganda had not been trained for.

The shirts had melted. The new working rig was polyester, lighter and cheaper and quicker to dry than the old cotton, and in a flash fire it did what polyester does at 250 degrees, which is turn to liquid and bond to whatever it is touching. Men were brought off with their uniform fused into their skin, and the first job in the burns tent was peeling plastic out of flesh. Nylon socks did the same thing to feet. Anti-flash hoods and gloves, the white cotton gear every sailor still wears at action stations, had saved the faces and hands they covered and left a line where the plastic began.

The lesson was learned at the Sir Galahad too, at Bluff Cove a month later, where the Welsh Guards were caught below decks and the burns ward at Ajax Bay found the same thing.

Afterwards the Navy went back to natural fibres. Cotton action working dress, cotton socks, the wool jumper that had never left. The US Navy took the same lesson from the Falklands and again from the USS Stark in 1987 and banned polyester and Corfam shoes aboard ship. Then, in 2012, it issued a new blue camouflage working uniform, tested it, and had to announce to its own sailors that it would burn robustly and melt into a sticky molten material. The uniform was nylon and cotton. It had been in service for four years.

Every navy that has ever had a fire has arrived at the same answer and then forgotten it as soon as the accountants came back.

Natural fibre does not melt. A sheep's wool will not catch at a temperature a ship fire reaches, and when it chars it stops. Cotton burns, but it burns off, it does not become part of you.

The shirt that went into a man's skin on the Sheffield is the same fabric as the school polo shirt, the fleece, the gym top, the sofa cover and the sheet on the bed.

The Navy had to be shown it once.

You are wearing it now.

[Dale Vince @DaleVince]

Here’s a new idea - people get stripped of honours for doing dishonourable things - let’s add tax dodging to the list.

Jim Ratcliffe (I won't use his honorary title) is a great example, made billions here, moved to Monaco to avoid paying billions in tax - why do we honour him. He says Britain is a toxic place to do business, I say he’s a toxic person - and should have no voice here. Right now he wants Billions more in defence contracts - a tax exile who calls Britain toxic - wants more money from us.

FU Jim.

https://t.co/r070aPcwFs

[Occupy Democrats @OccupyDemocrats]

BREAKING: Trump throws a NUCLEAR meltdown over the "degenerates" who are voicing backlash to his calls for Iran to "take out" Los Angeles and San Diego.

Sorry Donald, but you said what you said...

"The Fake and Artificial News is out there trying to say that I’m inviting the enemy to bomb San Diego and Los Angeles when, in actuality, what I was talking about was that a temporary increase in the price of Gasoline is a small price to pay for Iran not having a Nuclear Weapon and, if you want to see a big price, can you imagine what it would be like if they bombed San Diego and/or Los Angeles?" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

As always when discussing this deranged President's Iran rhetoric, we must point out that they were not pursuing a nuclear weapon when Trump launched his war of aggression. That's simply the pretext he used to justify doing Israel's dirty work. This war was always about destroying a regional rival so that the regime in Tel Aviv can expand its territory uncontested.

Also note Trump's bizarre use of the phrase "Artificial News." It's part of his pathetic attempt to brand the word artificial with a negative connotation to boost support for his idiotic renaming of Artificial Intelligence to Super Intelligence.

"All I was doing was making a comparison between paying a little more, for a short time, for Gasoline, versus the bombing of our Major Cities," Trump continued. "Everybody knew that, the Fake News knew it as well, but they continue to go out and say that I am asking the enemy to bomb two Cities that I love. It’s totally clear what I say but, these people are Degenerates, and think they can continuously get away with Fake News! President DONALD J. TRUMP"

For the record, what Trump said was: "Let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego." Since he's in a state of constantly worsening cognitive decline, the comment came in the midst of a rambling, incoherent stream of consciousness. It's possible that he was saying what he now claims to have been saying, but the lack of clarity is the biggest problem. This is the President of the United States. There should never be an occasion where it even seems possible that he called for nuking two American cities.

And let's say we give him the benefit of the doubt (something this mass-murdering pedophile never deserves). Where does that get us? We still have the President publicly fantasizing about nuclear holocaust to score cheap political points.

This lunatic needs to be reined in permanently. Next month, we make sure the blue wave breaks his political power for good.

Please ❤️ and share if you're voting blue!

[Prem Sikka @premnsikka]

Shell’s refineries expected to make record profits.

Profit margins of $42 a barrel, up from $24 a barrel. Cashing in on global conflicts.

Bumper payouts for exec and shareholders. Misery for households and businesses.

Must levy 100% windfal tax.
https://t.co/1wR3D7OD2x

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

NEW Pew Research poll: Trump’s approval hits a second-term low.

Approve: 30%
Disapprove: 68%

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

President Zelensky:

“The Russians know very well that they are striking ordinary cities, ordinary life. And the continued use of missiles against Ukraine, against our people, our children, is an absolutely deliberate choice of terror.

This is what Moscow chooses – despite all our efforts with partners to bring peace closer. And this is a clear reason why more pressure on Russia is needed and why Ukraine needs more defense packages. It is important that leaders understand this. It is important that the world not remain silent today.”

[Supertanskiii @supertanskiii]

As vile details of what the Tate brothers are accused of emerge, don’t forget who supported them.

[General Federation of Trade Unions @GFTU1]

📣 From the GFTU archive: GFTU in Action: Rebuilding Working Class Communities.

Revisit @GawainLittle's article on strengthening unions, working-class culture and collective action.

📖 Read & subscribe to our Substack - https://t.co/cTeNrOK9y2

#GFTU #TradeUnions #WorkingClass

[Paul Nowak @nowak_paul]

The vast majority of ‘hardworking people’ will never have to worry about inheritance tax & leaving the kids an extra million quid tax free.

Instead they might be more worried about properly funding the NHS, keeping our streets safe & clean and all the rest.

Tory priorities 🙄

[Amy Siskind @Amy_Siskind]

So something very not normal happened yesterday, a broken norm, and I wanted to share it with you all.

When I compile The Weekly List, I check EVERY major news outlet for stories that indicate broken norms. One yesterday was the top story at @ABC News, obviously a trust news source, about companies that Trump's sons Donald Jr. and Eric backed getting government contracts. It's a story I have covered for the list already with reporting on some of the companies mentioned, like Vulcan Elements.

Also in this week's list, was a story about ABC News' lawsuit with the FCC, and their claim in court that FCC Chair threatening to revoke their license was like having their head "in a guillotine," and had already impacted their pre-midterms coverage.

The story about Trump's sons was widely shared on X. ABC News posted it there, along with an image. Then this morning, I noticed the link to the story was dead. It's basically an error message when you hit the link, "OOPS! PAGE UNAVAILABLE" with no explanation. You can find the story down my feed from yesterday morning when it broke.

So the question is, what happened? And why did ABC News, a major broadcaster feel compelled to take down the story without explanation? This is not normal!

[General Federation of Trade Unions @GFTU1]

The @RightConfe57651 has launched its brand-new report, setting out a clear plan to deliver food security by 2035.

Now it’s time to turn that plan into action.

#RightToFood🍽️ #GFTU

1/2

[General Federation of Trade Unions @GFTU1]

✊ Solidarity!

[Jeremy Vine & Daytime on 5 @JeremyVineOn5]

"That conversation illustrates the complexity of Archer's life..."

@MichaelLCrick and @nadhimzahawi discuss the good and the bad that defined Jeffrey Archer and how he will be remembered.

@theJeremyVine | #JeremyVine

[The Labour Party @UKLabour]

Kemi Badenoch thinks “privatisation was a success". She's living in an alternate reality.

Water is a symbol of what has gone wrong in Britain.

In the years since privatisation our waterways have been pumped with sewage whilst water bosses receive bonus after bonus.

Labour is putting an end to this with a strengthened Water Bill which will repeal Margaret Thatcher’s ideological ban on public ownership of water companies.

And we’ll also give Mayors new powers to hold water companies to account, and close the loopholes water companies use to pay excessive bonuses.

[Morgan J. Freeman @mjfree]

WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST HEAR?

The President of the United States, talking about Iran:

“Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay.”

Those are AMERICAN CITIES.
AMERICAN FAMILIES.
AMERICAN LIVES.

A Commander in Chief casually talking about Americans being “taken out” by a foreign adversary — and calling it “a very small price to pay” — is beyond deranged. It is treasonous.

America First?

He just said letting a foreign adversary “take out” two American cities would be “a very small price to pay.”

[Gavin Newsom @GavinNewsom]

After sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California, Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego.

He is deranged and dangerous.

[John McDonnell @johnmcdonnellMP]

This is a huge victory for @pcs_union who have campaigned determinedly to bring these workers back in-house. This should be the start of the wave of insourcing promised by Labour.

[Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla]

And this is *exactly* why we need independent journalism, folks. And the only hope of that is if people pay for it. This is not news, it's propaganda.

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

The president of the United States calling for journalists to be arrested for reporting on empty seats at his rallies should be a much bigger story in the news.

[Peter Stefanovic @PeterStefanovi2]

Imagine the shock when he finds out Britain is losing at least £100 billion annually because of Brexit which he championed